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Granite vs marble vs Corian vs HI-MACS

Started by Warbird, July 05, 2008, 01:31:27 PM

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mountaineer

warbird go to your local post office and ask for the change of address package. there will be a 10% coupon in the package or you might have to send a form in to get the coupon. i've seen it both ways.- andy

Don_Papenburg

Tex ,  I could not remember Chengs name but have read many articles by him.
SRT,  I cut some marble for a countertop with a drycut diamond blade in my circular saw.   I have been informed that that can't be done . Now they tell me .
Frick saw mill  '58   820 John Deere power. Diamond T trucks

TexasTimbers

Don aren't you glad you don't know alot of things before you do them sometimes. We would never have walked on the moon had we listened to some folks.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Engineer

I'll put in a plug for something that hasn't yet been mentioned, although it might be a wee bit tough to get in Alaska.  I went through all the options y'all mentioned and finally installed soapstone in my kitchen.  It was a semi-DIY job.  I paid $55 per square foot for my tops.  We installed the cabinets, I did my own templates and dropped them off at the fabricator, the actual factory, about 75 miles away.  In six weeks they called, I went up there with a trailer and my pickup, they were crated and loaded on the trailer and I drove home.  Six guys and a case of beer got the island top in which is 86" long by 60" wide, with an undermount sink.  The rest of the tops were installed by one or two people.   The island was two pieces which I epoxied together with a DIY kit from the fabricator, and then cleaned up and polished the joint with a standard random orbit sander with 80 grit.  So far, maintenance has been a wet sponge, nothing affects this stuff, you can put hot pots right on it with no concern, it looks good, and every once in a while something gets sticky or greasy and a hot soapy scrubbie pad gets it right clean.  If you really get stupid and scratch it badly (I don't see how - maybe doing some blacksmith work or changing your car's tires on it? ;D) you can sand it out with 80 grit and you'll never know it.  Some people like to keep it oiled with mineral oil; I think that those people who like to keep it nice and shiny must never use their kitchen.


Warbird

Thanks Engineer.  I haven't seen nor heard any mention of soapstone at all up here.  We're heading out at lunch today to check out this local business who handles quartz and granite.  I'll ask him about soapstone.

srt, I'm having *no* luck tracking down Alaskan yellow cedar up here.  The local mills carry it but they have it shipped up and they won't tell me from where, nor will they recommend a place further south for me to call directly.  I have one more mill (larger outfit) to try but I doubt I'll get any better info.

About shipping you some salmon, I'll see what I can do.  :)  The salmon runs have been waaaaay down this year, so far.  Folks are hoping this is just a late run, like back in '97 I think it was.  That year they didn't hit until mid to late August.  It was a strange year.  Oddly enough, even though I've lived most my life up here, I've not done a lot of fishing.  This year I plan to get out and do some dip netting with some buddies.  If that is fruitful, I'll have a fish with your name on it (one of my friends from church has one of those nice vacuum packers.  I'll have to see about preparing and sealing it right so it won't have to be refrigerated during shipping.).

Warbird

srt, I've called every local mill.  The last one said he used to know of a "mom 'n pop type operation in Kenai or Homer" but he couldn't recall their name/number.  It appears that those who do carry it are getting it shipped up from larger mills down in Washington.  I'm still searching.  Will let ya know what turns up.

Good news...  I purchased the cabinets at Lowes last night.  Heading down to pick them up this afternoon.  Hope to start installing within a week.  ;D

We've about decided to go with granite for the counter tops.  Talked to a local business and I like the guy.  He's got a good operation and didn't try to feed me a bunch of ...  crappola as the forum software likes to say.  ;)  Going to be really spendy but he said he could install them such that they'd be pretty robust against the house foundation shifting and all that.  I promise to get some pics of the progress up soon.

beenthere

Quote from: Warbird on July 10, 2008, 05:41:05 PM
...................but he said he could install them such that they'd be pretty robust against the house foundation shifting and all that.  .........

house foundation shifting??  what is that about?
Sounds like the granite counter tops will be holding up the house. ::) ::) :)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Warbird

beenthere, a lot of house foundations in Alaska move.  It is due to the permafrost.

Norwiscutter

just my 2 cents...

I am a big advocate of tile in sitautions where a customer does not want formica but can not afford to go to granite, concrete, etc. In a wood heavy house like the one I am building now, I think earth tone ceramic tile or slate is the way to go. If you don't know how to do tile on your own, take a weekend class at lowes and you should be able to figure it out. Contrast the tile with a nice osage orange or maple cutting board or butcher block from one of the guys here on the forum and you will be in business.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

Warbird

All right...  cabinets are installed!!!  Well, everything except the breakfast bar cabinets.  Everything along the walls is done.  I am so sore and I didn't even do the majority of the work.  Here are some pics of the end result:







I've got all the pics showing before and after in the gallery HERE.  I sorted the first page by name there for you.  when you go to the second page, just sort it by name as well, and then they will be in order of time taken.

We should have the texture sprayed by the end of this week.  We've decided to go with granite counter tops, even though that delays getting the floor put in for a couple of months (we won't be able to afford the flooring for a while).  The guy will come out to template and measure for the granite counters in about a week, then it'll be 2 - 4 weeks before they are installed.  In the interim, we'll get all the walls and the ceiling painted.

It's hard to see the detail in those hickory cabinets because the pics have to be so small but we both think they are beautiful.  And we'll have more cabinet space than we know what to do with (the breakfast bar will have a bunch more cabinets under it).

This is pretty exciting for us.  We've lived in a construction zone for 3 years.  The good Lord has blessed us and it is finally all coming together.  I'll post more pics as work continues.  Thanks again for all the advice and information!

TexasTimbers

Looks nice.

What kind of texture you gonna do? You got lots of sanding to do on those beds.
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

pigman

The cabinets are nice, but what I really like is the refrigerator decorations ;D. Kind of looks like our frig when all the kids were home.
Things turn out best for people who make the best of how things turn out.

srt

Warbird,

Looks nice!  It's amazing how much diffeerence you can make in a few hours by hanging some boxes on the wall.

I appreciate your trying to het a lead on the AYC.  I'll follow up on the suggestion to call the local Gov'mt.  I was just kidding about the salmon, but I'd rather have a good piece of fresh salmon than the beef steak I raise myself!

Putting up crown??

Warbird

TT: This house is very...  not square.  To the trained eye, there is barely a straight line in the entire place.  The guy helping me with mudding will be sanding and putting up the second coat of mud soon.  We are going with a medium texture, possibly knocking it down on the walls and not knocking it down on the ceiling.

pigman: All the pics on the frig are from our niece and nephews.  We love them very much and can't wait to have the house so the kids can run around without danger of splinters, sharp tools, etc.

srt:  Thanks.  It'll be a truly amazing transformation from beginning to end.  The paint, granite counters, and laminate flooring will really finish it off nice.  We might put crown on the cabinets but definitely not on the walls themselves.  Like I was telling TT above, it ain't a straight line where the wall sheet rock meets the ceiling sheet rock.  It is very wavy and trying to get crown to fit just right would be a huge pain.

Let me know if you turn up anything on the AYC.  I'll do the same.  As for the salmon, if you ever visit up here in the summertime, I'm fairly certain we can scrounge up a good fillet.  Marinated just right and cooked on a charcoal grill...  one of my favorites.  Mmmm Mmmm.

Warbird

Update for those interested:  turns out we couldn't afford granite.  :-\  The breakfast bar we are putting in is huge and would take almost an entire slab all by itself.  The entire job would have been well over $7,000.   :o 

So, we're going with Corian.  It is within our limits and the Mrs really likes the seamless sinks.  Work is progressing.  I have a feeling y'all will like the window bench.  The guy helping me build it (he's actually doing all of the intricate work, I just built the frame) is a friend.  The finish work will only be yellow pine but it should be very beautiful when done.  I will post more pics in a week or two.

ps. Got down to 35 degrees F last night!  Time to wrap up all this work.

srt

Hey Warbird,  Thanks for the update.

You've surprised me by saying that granite was much more than corian.  I always advise folks that they're generally in the same ball park.  By same ballpark, I'm thinking within a grand if priced with the same bells and whistles.    Would you mind sharing with me what the difference between granite and corian was?  Also, do you suppose your geographical location has anything to do with the difference?

I'm asking, because I don't want to give out wrong info to my clients. 

What's going to be cookin' in that new kitchen?????

Warbird

Howdy srt.  The type of Corian we are getting goes for $56 - $62 per sq ft up here.  The cheapest level of granite here goes for $86 per sq ft.  I believe it is due to the weight and difficulty of having the granite slabs shipped up here.  In our case, Corian is, literally $2500 - $3000 cheaper with everything factored in (edging, back splash, overhang reinforcement, etc).

As for cookin', we've not really thought about what our first meal in the new kitchen will be yet.  It'll likely be 3 - 4 weeks before everything is painted and completely finished up (not counting the flooring).  We want to have a huge dinner party for everyone who has helped us with this.  I imagine we'll be grilling up moose ribs (one of the friends who helped has about 6 lbs of moose ribs), salmon fillets, and other standard grub.

The breakfast bar is going to be about 6' long by 4'10" wide.  In other words, it'll be huge.  While we won't be able to reach all the way across it very easily, the extra cabinet storage space and counter top space will be awesome.  I will post updated pics when it is all done.

ps.  I haven't forgotten about that AYC.  2 nights ago I tried calling a couple of places down in Kenai.  One was out of business and no answer at the other.  :-\ 

TexasTimbers

Looks great bird glad you got those decisions made. That's often the hardest part.

On the texture, next time you have to do any (did I hear you moan? :D ) you can save a siginificant amount of time by mastering a little trick. It only takes a few minutes to get used to. On the nail holes, instead of mudding and scraping one hole at a time try this.

Use about a 6" knife and put a nice dollup of mud on it. the position of the knife, and the location of the mud on the knife is critical, hard for me to explain, but you will figure it out on your own. Big help ain't I. Anyway, pick a vertical run of nails to attack and postion your dollup-laden knife at just below that bottom nail hole on the wall. place the mud against the rock, and push the dollup against the wall and up the line of holes. Once you are doing it right, the knife will leave a swath of mud up the line of holes, filling them along the way. In one continuous motion once your knife has reached its highest apogee (not usually the top hole for me unless I have a stool::) ) make a sweeping motion like a tight u-turn and turn the now empty (or real close) knife back around and drag it downward to remove the trail of mud. With the right pressure, you will remove the mud from the rock but leave the holes filled without making too much of adepression from flexing the knife into the holes.

If you are like me, it's difficult to picture suiff from words. My point is, you will save so much time you will be asking yourself why you never though of this. It is no exagerration at all to say it is 5, 6, perhaps 10 times faster. I can do 15 to 20 holes in the time it took me to do 3 or 4 before I learned this method. if you have to do anymore mudding in the near future i will make a short 30 second video for you (when I replace yet my 4th camera in about 3 years!).

Keep us posted on all your doings. I love to watch this kind of work. ;D
The oil is all in Texas, but the dipsticks are in D.C.

Warbird

Hey guys.  The Corian counter tops are being installed this morning!!  We are so excited.  Living in a construction zone for so long has been really difficult (you know the saying...  "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody is happy"?  Yeah, well, it's true!).  smiley_idea

We have only one more coat of primer to put on in the large living area.  I figure in 1 - 2 weeks, we'll have that area completely painted.  Then we'll be able to paint in the kitchen.  I know...  the paint shoulda been done before the counter tops but oh well.  Work travel kinda messed up the schedule.

I will have a lot of plumbing to hook up and clean up to do after getting home from work but will post some updated pictures soon.

Warbird

Sorry it has taken me so long to get some updated pics.  Just had to snap some pics of the windows and figured I'd grab a couple of the kitchen.  It is looking really nice.  I have the flooring but just need to get the time to get it installed.

Here is the breakfast bar with that nice solid 5' by 6' piece of Corian counter top:



Here is what the seamless Corian sink looks like.  We are both very happy with the seamless thing.  It is awesome:



Here are a couple views of the kitchen:





And here is one with the under cabinet lighting I put in.  These light kits were only $34 at Lowes and they are beautiful.  They have a touch switch and 3 brightness settings.  The pic doesn't do it justice:



I'll post some more pics once we get the bay windows replaced, the window bench done, and the flooring down.  It's been a *very* long 3 years but it is coming along!

ellmoe

Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

Norm


Raider Bill

The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

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